Nortel Unveils New Technology for Tomorrow's Telecoms Networks
Toronto (ots/PRNewswire)
- Provider Backbone Transport Transforms Traditional Role of Ethernet
TORONTO, June 6 /PRNewswire/ --
Nortel(x) (NYSE:NT; TSX: NT) has developed a new technology to be the foundation of service provider metropolitan networks. Now available in its Metro Ethernet Networks portfolio, the new technology - called Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) - is designed to allow service providers to deliver the communication and entertainment services of the future to consumers and companies across cities and countries.
Provider Backbone Transport transforms Ethernet technology, traditionally restricted to small-scale, local networks, into a more reliable, scaleable and deterministic technology making it suitable as the basis for fixed and mobile carrier networks to deliver live video and broadcast, multimedia, broadband data and voice services.
"Ethernet is a pervasive information transport technology due to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness," said Philippe Morin, president, Metro Ethernet Networks Nortel. "Nortel is now improving Ethernet and putting its simplicity and value at the heart of carrier networks."
"As a technology developed for smaller, local networks, Ethernet has lacked critical requirements that would enable service providers to take advantage of its benefits across city and national networks. By determining the specific performance of a network under any conditions and making it more reliable, Nortel is helping service providers leverage the cost- efficiencies of Ethernet to support crucial services like video, 3G mobility services, and business connectivity services."
Nortel is working with the support of some of the world's largest service providers and standards bodies to facilitate broad adoption of PBT as a metro technology. A first-to-market version of PBT is already available in the Nortel Metro Ethernet Routing Switch (MERS) 8600, with development also underway to integrate the technology into the Nortel Optical Multiservice Edge (OME) 6500 and other Ethernet-ready platforms.
"PBT has the potential to be a disruptive technology for service provider metro networks," said Stan Hubbard, senior analyst, Heavy Reading. "Its promise of enabling more manageable and scalable Ethernet that is cost - effective for metro network deployments makes it an attractive complement for service providers with existing MPLS core networks."
Traditional connectionless, best-effort Ethernet poses challenges for service providers needing to guarantee service delivery and quality of service (QoS) for real-time applications. PBT is a simple point-to-point tunneling technology that adds determinism to Ethernet, enabling service providers to specify the path that an Ethernet service should take across the network. PBT allows for QoS guarantees by reserving bandwidth for real- time services, and provides for 50 millisecond service recovery times should a connection fail - matching the benchmarks set by today's existing SONET and SDH optical transport standards.
"Nortel has been working with several major service providers that are very interested in the potential benefits of deploying PBT as a metro networking technology," said Morin. "PBT is designed to provide reliability and determinism equal to SONET and SDH while retaining the cost and simplicity of Ethernet - a combination ideal for a carrier network environment."
PBT also helps resolve issues with Ethernet's scalability, helping conserve network resources that would otherwise be taken up by the constant communications between large numbers of Ethernet devices in the network. In addition, when PBT is paired with another pending Ethernet standard - Provider Backbone Bridging (IEEE 802.1ah) - it is now possible for service providers to scale Ethernet-based services to millions of users per metro area.
TORONTO, June 6 /PRNewswire/ --
About Nortel
TORONTO, June 6 /PRNewswire/ --
Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities that enhance the human experience, ignite and power global commerce, and secure and protect the world's most critical information. Our next- generation technologies, for both service providers and enterprises, span access and core networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications, and help eliminate today's barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people with information. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com. For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news.
TORONTO, June 6 /PRNewswire/ --
Certain statements in this press release may contain words such as " could", "expects", "may", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates ", "plans", "envisions", "seeks" and other similar language and are considered forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities legislation. These statements are based on Nortel's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the operating environment, economies and markets in which Nortel operates. These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict and the actual outcome may be materially different. Further, actual results or events could differ materially from those contemplated in forward- looking statements as a result of the following (i) risks and uncertainties relating to Nortel's restatements and related matters including: Nortel's most recent restatement and two previous restatements of its financial statements and related events; the negative impact on Nortel and NNL of their most recent restatement and delay in filing their financial statements and related periodic reports; legal judgments, fines, penalties or settlements, or any substantial regulatory fines or other penalties or sanctions, related to the ongoing regulatory and criminal investigations of Nortel in the U.S. and Canada; any significant pending civil litigation actions not encompassed by Nortel's proposed class action settlement; any substantial cash payment and /or significant dilution of Nortel's existing equity positions resulting from the finalization and approval of its proposed class action settlement, or if such proposed class action settlement is not finalized, any larger settlements or awards of damages in respect of such class actions; any unsuccessful remediation of Nortel's material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting resulting in an inability to report Nortel's results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner; the time required to implement Nortel's remedial measures; Nortel's inability to access, in its current form, its shelf registration filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Nortel's below investment grade credit rating and any further adverse effect on its credit rating due to Nortel's restatements of its financial statements; any adverse affect on Nortel's business and market price of its publicly traded securities arising from continuing negative publicity related to Nortel's restatements; Nortel's potential inability to attract or retain the personnel necessary to achieve its business objectives; any breach by Nortel of the continued listing requirements of the NYSE or TSX causing the NYSE and/or the TSX to commence suspension or delisting procedures; (ii) risks and uncertainties relating to Nortel's business including: yearly and quarterly fluctuations of Nortel's operating results; reduced demand and pricing pressures for its products due to global economic conditions, significant competition, competitive pricing practice, cautious capital spending by customers, increased industry consolidation, rapidly changing technologies, evolving industry standards, frequent new product introductions and short product life cycles, and other trends and industry characteristics affecting the telecommunications industry; any material and adverse affects on Nortel's performance if its expectations regarding market demand for particular products prove to be wrong or because of certain barriers in its efforts to expand internationally; any reduction in Nortel's operating results and any related volatility in the market price of its publicly traded securities arising from any decline in its gross margin, or fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; any negative developments associated with Nortel's supply contract and contract manufacturing agreements including as a result of using a sole supplier for key optical networking solutions components, and any defects or errors in Nortel's current or planned products; any negative impact to Nortel of its failure to achieve its business transformation objectives; additional valuation allowances for all or a portion of its deferred tax assets; Nortel's failure to protect its intellectual property rights, or any adverse judgments or settlements arising out of disputes regarding intellectual property; changes in regulation of the Internet and/or other aspects of the industry; Nortel's failure to successfully operate or integrate its strategic acquisitions, or failure to consummate or succeed with its strategic alliances; any negative effect of Nortel's failure to evolve adequately its financial and managerial control and reporting systems and processes, manage and grow its business, or create an effective risk management strategy; and (iii) risks and uncertainties relating to Nortel's liquidity, financing arrangements and capital including: the impact of Nortel's most recent restatement and two previous restatements of its financial statements; any inability of Nortel to manage cash flow fluctuations to fund working capital requirements or achieve its business objectives in a timely manner or obtain additional sources of funding; high levels of debt, limitations on Nortel capitalizing on business opportunities because of credit facility covenants, or on obtaining additional secured debt pursuant to the provisions of indentures governing certain of Nortel's public debt issues and the provisions of its credit facilities; any increase of restricted cash requirements for Nortel if it is unable to secure alternative support for obligations arising from certain normal course business activities, or any inability of Nortel's subsidiaries to provide it with sufficient funding; any negative effect to Nortel of the need to make larger defined benefit plans contributions in the future or exposure to customer credit risks or inability of customers to fulfill payment obligations under customer financing arrangements; any negative impact on Nortel's ability to make future acquisitions, raise capital, issue debt and retain employees arising from stock price volatility and further declines in the market price of Nortel's publicly traded securities, or any future share consolidation resulting in a lower total market capitalization or adverse effect on the liquidity of Nortel's common shares. For additional information with respect to certain of these and other factors, see Nortel's Annual Report on Form 10- K/A, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with the SEC. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Nortel disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
TORONTO, June 6 /PRNewswire/ --
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Contact:
For further information: Bo Gowan, +1-(972)-685-8278,
bogowan@nortel.com; Patricia Vernon, +1-(905)-863-1035,
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